69 comments so far

I think the game against Preston when Mitro appeared more interested in his own performance than the team’s and his spat with Ritchie, over the penalty, showed Rafa how immature he is! If he’d taken the pen, even scoring, I don’t think he’d even be on the bench, now!

I think the game against Preston when Mitro appeared more interested in his own performance than the team’s and his spat with Ritchie, over the penalty, showed Rafa how immature he is! If he’d taken the pen, even scoring, I don’t think he’d even be on the bench, now!

EGB, I had a decent football brain, in my days playing in the local (pub) league “B” team, but my feet were not connected and the other players just weren’t good enough, haha! Took to running long distance instead, once realised I was not a very good player! I enjoy watching the Toon, see a lot of what goes on, bow to some who see things I miss! Interesting views, analysis many better than mine!

rafa benitez the most boring manager i have ever seen he remind me of tony pulis in a spanish version but atleast we winning hurrraaaaa dont attack me because i thought he was much better manager than he is. its like the girl u like so much just to find out she aint who u thought she was. that my feeling about rafa the gafa. but dont attack me peace among us fans. we we are newcastle. its like i talk bad about shearer when u talk truth about benitez relax. let him give us silver first that all i am saying. before u pu himt up there !!! HAPPY NEW YEAR HOPE ITS GOOD 2017 BACK IN THE PREMIER L. WE ALL WANT THE SAME IN THE END A SUCCESSFUL TEAM SO I SUPPORT THE TEAM AND THE GAFFA TOO TO U HATERS OUT THERE TRUTH HURTS

We may not always agree (slight understatement!) However, with this below I take my hat off to you. Absolutely superb – – – –

Jib // Dec 31, 2016 at 12:20 PM

The hero worship of Mitro by the more thuggish element of toon support has less to do with his footballing prowess and more to do with the fact that he would not look out of place in the Bigg market on a Friday night.

equally impressive from oldgit – – – – – – – – – – He (Mitro) does not fit into Rafa style of play and it’s well documented that he is a nutcase, immature, and doesn’t follow instructions. In other words a loose cannon, that cannot be relied on. Those supporters that are taken in by the hero worshiping of this player are doing Rafa an injustice and is disrespectful to the best manager for a while.

“its like the girl u like so much just to find out she aint who u thought she was”

Not quite. Rafa’s style of football was known before he arrived, it shouldn’t come as a shock. It isn’t always going to be pretty, but Benitez will most likley improve this club and leave it on much better footing than he found it.

I went back over some of the comments, since the game and JIB has sussed the mackem “WUM’s” I think! No one has said we played great, but 3 points are all that matter! Not sure the crowd were too bad, frustrated, yes! Forest got lucky with their goal, due to our poor defending, which played back into their cheating hands! I would have preferred giving them a good pasting, but seeing the red card, then scoring2, was a good second prize! Mitro looks like he’ll be sold, but, like many, I have no issue with that and feel some fans are way over the top in the way they rave over him! I would love to see him do well, but they could dress me up in a daft costume, pay me half his wages and I will run up and down the touchline, fist-pumping and take his place!!

Just had a call and got to go out, but I’ll leave this before I go. Last night wasn’t great again. The scoreline simply covered over some scary cracks. Are we really a one man team? I certainly hope not, but the two games we’ve been without Shelvey, we’ve struggled to break poor teams down. Last night highlighted it even more. They were really poor, yet we seemed clueless as to how to get through them. The lack of movement is alarming. At one stage Colback had the ball and the entire team looked like, they were playing statues. Atsu seems to be the only player willing to take defenders on, apart from Yedders when he comes up. You need pass and move to break a stubborn defence down, or a player willing to run at them. Last night was the first time I’ve questioned Rafa all season. This insistence on 4231 is fine when the players are there to make it work. Without Shelvey we look clueless. With the players available it was begging for 442 last night. Rafa has played it before, but only when we’ve been losing. If it’s good enough when we’re losing, it begs the question why we can’t start with it sometimes? Two wingers. Three great crosses in the first half, met by the weakest headers imaginable. Not knocking Gayle, that’s not his strong point, but Mitro or Murphy would’ve buried them. Clearly something needs to change. New signings might cover it, but if not, a change of tactics is a must. We never looked like scoring last night until their man was sent off. First goal was a bit lucky, but we’ll take them all day. After that it was huff and puff and no end product. For the first time last night I got angry with the lack of invention and that’s not like me at all. Perez is a waste of space. How he gets in the squad, let alone the team on current form is beyond my comprehension. Diame changed the game when he came on fortunately and going past players opened up space for others. So, not really a rant, just expressing an honest opinion. Rather than us working out other teams second time around, it’s looking the other way round. This team should win this league, but the last two games have been a worry. No doubt Rafa will sort it out. He has the experience and talent. He must see what we see and he knows what to do. Anybody thinking we can still walk this league, which included me to be fair, need to reassess the situation. As does Rafa. You can attack me later if you wish, just saying it how I see it.

booboo – you’re entitled to your opinion but I can’t quite get to grips with the bit about a “boring manager” and others going on about the team being too defensive? We have scored way more goals than any other team in the Championship and I’ll bet we rate highly for number of attempts as well? Presumably all the other teams are even more boring and defensive?

Some fans really do have a short memory and i am beginning to agree with the pundits that say we are mre of a hinderance to the team tham help.

A lot of fans really are acting like spoilt brats with an opinion dd sense of entitlement given weve mot been a decent team for well over a decade and a half now.

I think Rafa needs to tweak his tactics as much as the next man. I think a bigger presence like mitro up top could allow us to play better. And we seem to be just sitting in games hoping that gayle can do what he does. But howay man, hes the best manager weve had since sir bobby.

Hes turned around this sh!t show of a club. Created a completely ew mentality in a team that was stock full of losers and lazy buggers. Hes got us playing as a team and we are getting results.

How can anyone look at that table and say rafa isnt doing a good job. And its nonsense to just belittle the league. This is a tough, competitive league. Far more competitive than the premier league

We are halfway through the season and sitting on top – (probably second if Brightons’ game was not abandoned). Now comes the interesting parts – the window and the run in. A few teams fall away in the run in – historically -Brighton is certainly one. I think we’ll be buying in the window -a couple a least. What happens if Shelvey is injured, what happens if Gayle is injured -cannot see Mitro being sold in this window. So far Bentitez is earning his corn- workaholic – trying to get the club running properly after years of neglect -not easy. As I say Bentitez is earning his money – should he be the topic of criticism -of course he should when fans think it neccesary -should he be applauded – of course he should. Funny how some want to deny hero worship for some yet hero worship others themselves.

toontaff2 hahaha thats some funny shit cant believe how dangerous that will be. its even dangerous in here to talk about rafa . i will say that i hope the best for this team even if it is against my vision i support the team the club before anything. even though rafa is the gafa i will support it because the club much bigger than any man.

Rare that I comment on the ‘cat-fights’ on here and I appreciate everyone has opinions but to have a pop at Rafa after what he has done for our club.

We were the laughing stock and had a team of footballers who only thought of themselves, now we are top of the league with a very good group of professionals. Although some out of form I still know which team I would rather have.

I can see Murphy starting on Monday with gayle on the bench. That will upset a lot of Mitro worshippers. Gayle is far too important to us at the moment. Not bothered about a FA cup run at the moment. We must get into the Prem then take it from there.

i really hoped for something else but i dont take nothin away from the team. the problemis when we play bad its really bad we could have used the squad more changed tataics more thats what i mean about boring. its a few players making diffrence rather than team play control. the lack of exitement. but are winning most games yes are we on the yes. but not the way i wanted to. so please understand where i am coming from. dont wanna bash the team or the players-because i want the best for club

Oldgit, you mean Birmingham in the Cup, on next Saturday? I think Gayle will be starting against Blackburn on Monday, especially after what happened in the last Blackburn game. But I think Murphy will be a starter in the cup game. If we’d been on a long winning streak, people may not have accepted a “weaker” team in the cup but it’s the way forward now, I think.

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